Ontario reports 32 COVID-19 deaths Thursday as ICU admissions surpass 200 again
Posted May 5, 2022 10:35 am.
Last Updated May 5, 2022 11:27 am.
For the second straight day, Ontario reported more than 30 new deaths due to COVID-19 as the number of patients in critical care climbed past 200.
Health officials report 1,676 people are in hospital as a result of COVID-19, a decrease of 22 over the previous day. However, the figure is a three per cent increase over the number of hospitalizations reported two weeks ago. The number of patients in ICU rose to 205 with 100 of them currently on a ventilator.
Almost 43 per cent of patients were admitted to hospital with COVID while 65 per cent of those in critical care are due to the virus.
Provincial officials confirmed another 32 Ontarians have died of COVID-19, including 10 more in long-term care. The provincial death toll due to the virus now stands at 12,921.
For the third straight day the province reported an increase in new cases with 2,700. However that number is underreported due to limited testing capacity. The scientific director of Ontario’s panel of COVID-19 advisers has said multiplying the daily case count by 20 would give a more accurate picture of the spread.
The province says it processed almost 18,000 tests in the last 24 hour period, for a test positivity rate of 13 per cent.
The province administered 29,923 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, including just over 3,300 third doses and almost 24,000 fourth shots.
The World Health Organization on Thursday estimated that nearly 15 million people died either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years – more than double the official death toll of six million. The U.N. agency described the figure as “sobering,” saying it should prompt countries to invest more in their capacities to quell future health emergencies.
